Neo-Nazi, Girlfriend Arrested In Plot Targeting Baltimore Power Grid

The Department of Justice on Monday charged a nationally known neo-Nazi leader and a woman he met while incarcerated over an alleged plot to attack multiple energy facilities in the Baltimore area.

Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 34, of Catonsville, Maryland, and Brandon Clint Russell, 27, of Orlando, were allegedly fueled by a racist extremist ideology as they “conspired to inflict maximum harm” on the power grid with the aim to “completely destroy” Baltimore, U.S. Attorney Erek Barron, and a top FBI official said Monday at a press conference.

More than 61% of Baltimore residents are Black.

The criminal pair are expected to make their first appearance in Baltimore and Florida federal courts Monday, on charges of conspiring to destroy an energy facility, which carries up to 20 years in prison.

In court documents, Russell says that attacking power transformers is “the greatest thing somebody can do.” He is accused of providing instructions and location information for the substations he and Clendaniel allegedly sought to target as part of their plot, federal prosecutors said.

“If we can pull off what I’m hoping … this would be legendary,” Clendaniel said on Jan. 29, according to court records. As it turns out, she was speaking to a federal informant who had similar discussions with Russell.

Russell is a founder of the Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group bent on “ushering in the collapse of civilization,” according to the Southern Poverty Law Center. The group admires Charles Manson and supports “the idea of lone wolf violence,” according to the Anti-Defamation League.

According to court documents, Clendaniel and Russell met while incarcerated at separate prisons — Russell in federal custody for possessing bombmaking materials and Clendaniel in a Maryland facility for robbing convenience stores with a machete.

Russell’s arrest on those earlier charges came after a man he was living with in Tampa, Devon Arthurs, killed two of their roommates and told investigators that they had been plotting to attack a nuclear plant in Florida and other energy infrastructure.

Thomas J. Sobocinski, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Baltimore office, said the suspects were serious in their efforts aimed at paralyzing the city of 580,000.

“Their actions threatened the electricity and heat of our homes, hospitals, and businesses,” said Sobocinski to a group of Baltimore reporters. “The FBI believes this was a real threat.”

The arrests come after a series of attacks on power infrastructure servicing other towns throughout the U.S. There were shootings at two electrical substations in central North Carolina in early December which left 60% of North Carolina’s Moore County without power for several days.

On Christmas weekend, attacks at four electricity substations near Tacoma, Washington, left about 14,000 homes and businesses without power.